Have you noticed that the AdWords conversion tracking has altered?

When running your monthly AdWords reports, you may have noticed the conversion columns have changed their names. Many out there won’t realise this is part of a full update and with this, there’s now more options available to advertisers when it comes to tracking conversions. As a leading search marketing company, we not only spotted this change, but learnt quickly how to use this upgrade to clients’ full advantage.

If we go back to basics, what you may have noticed.

“Conversions (1-per-click)” has been renamed “Converted clicks”. The mechanics remain the same and so this represents clicks that result in one or more conversions.

“Conversions (many-per-click)” has been replaced by “Conversions”, with extra features.

It’s this latter “Conversions” which we’d like to discuss. Beforehand, Google counted all conversions which happened after a click and produced a total number – ie, many-per-click. Now, you can define to what extent a true “conversion” is by opting for either “All conversions”, or, “Unique conversions”.

This is an extremely handy tool and something you can adapt to your business goals. Being a search marketing company, we truly believe utilising the data that is available is paramount in making better and more informed decisions on how to manage campaigns. This upgrade merely allows us to define what a conversion or conversion value is more effectively.

Going back to look at the “All conversions” – this counts all conversions that happen after a click. So for example if your aim is to track sales, this would be a good option to select.

“Unique conversions” on the other hand only counts unique conversions that happen after an ad click. This is a better option if you’re tracking form submissions/lead generations.

Beforehand, if someone filled in a form twice, they would be classed as 2 conversions in the “Conversions (many-per-click)” column. Now, you can set it to class it as a conversion once only.

If you don’t alter anything in your settings, you’ll just notice those column name changes and the “Conversions (many-per-click)” will automatically be set to “All conversions” – as they are in effect the same.

If you’re using the conversion optimiser and enhanced cost per click methods, these will both function exactly as they did beforehand. If you’re bid metric is set to “Conversions”, then the settings of conversion tracking will be taken into account. If the bid metric is set to “Converted clicks”, you will not notice any change as this upgrade does not affect the count of converted clicks.

Google are constantly updating their AdWords program and as a Google Partner Manchester here at Digital State Marketing, we allocate time each month to study any upgrades and learn how to adapt and utilise them for each of our clients. If you’d like us to look at your PPC account and see how we can potentially help you, contact a member of our team today on 01229 484290.